wildbill wrote:
My 12yr old (or older...I don't remember) Ryobi 9.6 has finally died.
So now I'm looking for another cordless drill. From what I'm seeing,
most of the drills are comparable. The real difference(s) seem to be
in the charger. Multi-hour chargers, one-hr chargers, 20-min
chargers, etc. Unfortunately, most marketing doesn't seem to focus
on the charger capabilities. So my ideal battery charger would be
like:

1) quick--1 hour or so
2) Will automatically switch to trickle-charge when the battery is
charged so I don't have to worry about leaving the battery in the
charger overnight
3) Has an option to "re-condition" the battery before charging.

I'm looking for charger/drill mostly for weekend warrior around the
house, i.e., I'm not trying to make a living with my tools. Looks
like 18v is now the "standard" but I've been perfectly happy with my
9.6 all these years.

Any suggestions, comments, URLs, etc. welcomed.

Bill W

Just got the 14.4 DeWalt at the local Lowe's or Home Depot (can't tell them
apart now) and maybe 18v looks standard because Lowe's and Home Depot are
geared to construction instead of woodworking? The 18v just felt as if it
would be too heavy to lug around, even in my small shop, and now that I
have it home, the 14.4v may be too heavy, too. Up to now I have used 12v.

The directions seem to be saying this unadjustable re-charger fits all the
requirements you listed. It recharges in an hour, you might want to
re-condition the battery by leaving it plugged in for 8 hours after 10
re-charges, and it is a good idea to leave it plugged in with the red light
(finished re-charging) on all the time. Cost was $170.

I liked the variable spped switch and the single sleeve keyless chuck.

Josie